How Many Jobs Has Obama Created or Lost? (Final Obama Numbers as of January 2017)

How many NET jobs created or lost under Obama* as of January 2017, during the whole Obama Presidency? How many private sector jobs have been lost or added during Obama's presidency?

This is the final month of jobs attributed to Obama's Presidency.  Job numbers for any month are reported and counted as of the week of January 12th.  Obama was still the President during the week of January 12th.

How many new jobs in the last 8 years since Obama was inaugurated?  How many Americans were employed or unemployed when Obama took office compared to now?

See below!

President Obama handed off to incoming President Trump the strongest economy in terms of jobs since the Clinton years: * 

• 1. A record number of job openings.
• 2. A record in consecutive months of increase in the number of private sector jobs (83 months).
• 3. Record in consecutive months of overall job growth.  (76 months).  
• 4. Lowest number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits since 1971.  
• 5. A reduction in income inequality starting in 2014.
• 6. An increase in inflation-adjusted weekly and hourly wages for "regular" workers.  
• 7. A record-increase in inflation-adjusted household income.  
• 8. An INCREASE in manufacturing jobs in Obama's second term after a 27% DECREASE in manufacturing jobs under Bush II.  This was the largest one term increase in manufacturing jobs since Carter.
• 9. A 19% increase in construction jobs in Obama's second term.  This was the largest one term increase in construction jobs since the Clinton years.
    
  
  Don't mess this up, President  Trump!  WE ARE WATCHING YOU!   
  
  *For those who don't believe these claims, I will post links and sources for all of these in the next few days.  

Decline and increase of private sector jobs from January 2008 into and through Obama's Presidency

Continue below...

Since the "trough" of the recession in late 2009/early 2010 until the end of the Obama Presidency in seasonally adjusted numbers:

• 15,808,000 MORE payroll jobs in total
• 15,973,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 14,068,000 MORE people working (includes self-employed and agricultural workers)
  

How many workers were full-time or part-time at the "trough" of the recession in late 2009/early 2010 compared to the end of the Obama Presidency?

• 14,146,000 MORE people working full-time.
• 132,000 MORE people working part-time.  
• (Yes, despite what you may have heard, from the depth of the recession until now, we have many MORE people working full-time vs. part-time jobs. When a recession hits, companies generally cut back on full-time workers first.  When companies start hiring again, the number of full-time workers begins to increase.)
• 3,406,000 FEWER people are working part-time involuntarily than in September 2010 when this number peaked at 9,246,000.  This is a biggie, as this means that most of the people who are working part-time WANT to work part-time.  In fact, we have about 4.2 million MORE people working part-time who WANT to work part-time than in the depth of the recession.  Also, about 40% of people 65 and over who are working are working part-time.  

Since Bush left office & Obama took office (January 2009) in seasonally adjusted numbers until the end of the Obama Presidency:

• 11,488,000 MORE jobs in total
• 11,756,000 MORE private sector jobs
• 9,929,000 MORE people working

How many workers were full-time or part-time when Obama was inaugurated compared to the end of the Obama Presidency?

• 8,887,000 MORE people working full-time
• 1,028,000 MORE people working part-time
• 2,206,000 FEWER people working part-time INVOLUNTARILY (because they couldn't find a full-time job.)  About 2,156,000 more people are working part-time voluntarily-- because they WANT to work part-time-- since Obama was inaugurated. 

Have any private jobs been lost (net) over the past 83 months since February 2010 (until Jan 2017)?

NO!

• 83 months of consecutive private-sector job growth.
• The longest consecutive period of private-sector job increases since this number has been recorded. 

• ALL jobs losses since the recession (January 2008 was the prior peak of jobs) have been made up, added back, or recovered.

Have any jobs been lost (net) over the past 76 months since September 2010 (until Jan 2017)?

NO!

• 76 months of consecutive overall job growth.
• This is the longest period of consecutive OVERALL job growth since this number has been recorded (back to 1939).

Are more people unemployed at the end of the Obama Presidency than when Obama took office in January 2009?  

NO!

• Despite 5,506,000 MORE people in the labor force (either working or actively looking for work) in Jan 2017 vs. January 2009, there are 4,423,000 FEWER people unemployed now than in January 2009. 

All other jobs reports (2011 - 2017) indexed HERE

How Many Jobs (Net) were Created in 2016?

*What's the difference between "net" and "gross" jobs gained and lost?

Let's get something straight:  Jobs are lost every week and every month. People are fired, people are laid off, businesses or locations are closed and everybody is let go. 

Also people quit every week.  You yourself, dear reader,  may have quit a job at some point in time.

But people are also HIRED every week and every month.  New businesses open, businesses expand, businesses replace people who have left or been fired.  Every week.  You yourself, dear reader, may have been hired for a job at some point in time. This happens in good times and bad.

Yes, even in bad times, people are getting hired.  Even in good times, people are let go.

Now:  The monthly jobs report, upon which this article is based, presents estimates based on surveys as to how many jobs are gained or lost in a given month.  Those numbers are based on the number of new jobs (people getting hired, businesses opening) MINUS the number of jobs that have been cut (people getting fired, people quitting, businesses closing or cutting back).

The monthly jobs report therefore reports NET job growth or loss.  

For 76 months in this country, we have had MORE jobs being added than we have had jobs being cut.  For 83 months in the private sector (not counting federal workers, state or local workers such as teachers, firemen, cops, or people who staff the DMV; only counting people who work for private businesses), we have had MORE jobs added than we have had jobs being cut.

To reiterate:  How many jobs have been created in the last 8 years versus how many jobs have been lost?

All numbers provided on monthly jobs reports, which is what the series on jobs created/lost under Obama is based, are NET jobs numbers.  In other words, they reflect gains after all job losses are subtracted, or they reflect job losses after all gains are added.  The numbers above reflect job gains after all job losses have been subtracted. 

For the past 83 months (as of January 2017), we have had NET gains in private jobs numbers every month.  In other words, in every month since February 2010, more private jobs have been created than have been lost.  In every month since September 2010, more jobs in total have been created than have been lost.  This is the longest consecutive period of job growth since these numbers have been recorded.

Fact check and important information on these jobs numbers...

The above jobs numbers are from the BLS jobs report of January 2017, which was released in early February 2017.  The surveys used to gather these numbers are taken as of the week which includes the 12th day of the month, in this case, January 12, 2017.